Joanne Griffiths, crossing guard in DWI case, also charged in hit-run, according to court records
School crossing guard Joanne Griffiths, 58, of Blue Point, is led out of the Fifth Precinct in Patchogue for arraignment Thursday in First District Court in Central Islip. Griffiths was charged with driving while intoxicated after she was arrested in the parking lot of Waldbaum's in Patchogue. (Oct. 24, 2013) Credit: James Carbone
A Suffolk County school crossing guard crashed into a parked car and fled the scene a day before being charged with drunken driving 20 minutes after her Wednesday shift ended, according to court documents.
Joanne Griffiths, 58, of 59 Ocean Ave., Blue Point, was charged Thursday with leaving the scene of an accident after she hit the car, parked on Blue Point Avenue, at about 9 a.m. Tuesday and drove away, according to a criminal complaint.
No one was injured, police said.
The next morning, Griffiths was arrested in the parking lot of a Patchogue Waldbaum's supermarket and charged with driving while intoxicated, police said. Twenty minutes earlier, she had ended her two-hour shift as a school crossing guard at the intersection of Montauk Highway and Bell Avenue in Blue Point, police said. She was assigned to Blue Point Elementary School, police said.
Officers performed a field sobriety test on Griffiths, an employee with the Suffolk police for the past 15 years, and determined she was under the influence of alcohol, police said. Court records said a breath analyzer test showed she had a 0.10 percent blood-alcohol level, just above the legal intoxication level of 0.08 percent.
"There will be a substitute guard at the post for the foreseeable future," police said in a statement, adding that Griffiths' "employment status will be determined by the police commissioner."
She entered a plea of not guilty to the charges Thursday before Judge Paul Hensley in First District Court in Central Islip and was held on $10,000 bail. She has an Oct. 31 court date. With John Valenti
